The same complex, including the former Bewleys outlet, made just over €26 million about two-and-a-half years ago, writes JACK FAGAN
ONE OF Dublin’s best known business premises, Bewleys of Westmoreland Street, an adjoining bar and nightclub and a hotel around the corner in Temple Bar, are to be offered for sale at roughly half the price they made about two-and-a-half years ago.
The sale has been triggered by AIB which funded the original purchase through Thedforde Trading Ltd, a property syndicate headed by Simon Kelly, Col Campbell and Rory Donohoe.
Paul Collins of estate agent CB Richard Ellis is now quoting between €12 million and €15 million for the entire complex which made just over €26 million after tender as the property market began to slow down at the end of 2006.
Mr Collins is acting for Jim Hamilton, of BDO Simpson Xavier, who was recently appointed by the High Court as receiver to Thedforde Trading Ltd. The syndicate had bought the property portfolio through
Thedforde Trading, a former company in the Campbell Bewley Group which ran the business for many years.
The sale is easily the most important of a business premises in the city centre since the collapse of capital values. CBRE say that it will undoubtedly attract the attention of Irish and overseas retailers, investors and developers, hoteliers and restaurateurs.
After the new owners bought Bewleys in 2007, Thedforde secured planning permission to convert the former ground floor restaurant into retail use, giving it a huge floor space of 950sq m (10,225sq ft). It is easily the largest available retail area in the city centre with the advantage of an exceptionally high footfall along the western side of Westmoreland Street.
If it does not end up as a single store, the likelihood is that new owners may decide to convert it into a food hall with several different and distinct restaurants with the option of featuring all the original fittings.
The location of the premises at the main entrance to Temple Bar – an area that attracts 500,000 visitors weekly – would undoubtedly help to boost the number of customers.
The three-star hotel is accessed from Fleet Street and has 71 en suite bedrooms – most of them with air conditioning – at first, second, third and fourth floor levels.
A new planning permission will allow the upper floors of 10-12 Westmoreland Street – formerly occupied by the Dublin School of English – to be converted for hotel use, an additional 39 bedrooms and some meeting rooms.
The planners have also cleared the way for a new link between Price’s Lane and Westmoreland Street.
O’Sullivan’s bar and separate nightclub at 10-12 Westmoreland Street have two separate entrances and operate at basement and street levels. The bar on the ground floor has a floor area of 80sq m (860sq ft) while the nightclub extends to 950sq m (10,225sq ft) and can obviously accommodate a large crowd.
These two areas are separately licensed from the hotel and can be operated independently from the remainder of the property. The complex, which is in need of substantial refurbishment, also includes 596sq m (6,415sq ft) of office space on four levels over the restaurant and O’Sullivan’s.
Bewleys had been trading on Westmoreland Street from 1896 and on Fleet Street since 1905. The buildings occupy a site of 0.13 hectares (0.32 of an acre) and extend to 5,300sq m (57,049 sq ft) over eight levels.
They occupy a prime trading pitch with frontage on to Westmoreland Street, Fleet Street and Price’s Lane at the rear.
The property is substantially freehold with the exception of a part of 10 Westmoreland Street which accounts for about 8 per cent of the overall floor area. This is held on a 25-year lease from 1994 at a current rent of €170,000 per annum. The rent is subject to five yearly reviews.
The decision by the syndicate to acquire the property in the owning company (Thedforde Trading Ltd) meant that it only had to pay stamp duty of 1 per cent rather than the more punitive 9 per cent which is standard in property deals.
